Hampton Bishop, St Andrew

The Hampton Bishop Parish Church of St Andrew [1] is tucked away and almost surrounded by the rivers where the River Lugg joins the River Wye. The B4224 runs through the village and the the church is on the North side of the B4224 at the junction where Whitehall Rd meets Church Lane. There is not much parking nearby. It is an unusual Norman church with a half-timbered tower on the North side about half way along the nave.

I visited for the first time on Friday 17^th April 2009 for a practical session during the Hereford Ringing Course. This is a ground floor ring, the ringing area has two stone walls and the two sides looking onto the nave are enclosed in glass. A rather nice setup. However, the bells are not so nice to ring. It is a long pull without any rope guides and those ringing with me that had rung there before warned us that while recent work had been done to improve them they were still tricky. I rang up bell #5 which seemed ok. I also called a couple of Touches of Plain Bob Doubles while ringing bell #3 which was a little trickier. I ended by I ringing down bell #5.

The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing ~10-0-0 in G. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at St Andrew.

The Hereford Diocesan Guild of bellringers also have information on the Hampton Bishop Parish Church of St Andrew. No information on the bells history or inscriptions was to be found.